


A Sack Of Pearls

by L_C_Weary



Series: Loan's Captive Prince Month [25]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Everyone has feelings, F/F, Freedom, In Their World At Least, Liberation Of Slavery, Slavery, Vannes Invented The Term 'Bestie', i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 04:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_C_Weary/pseuds/L_C_Weary
Summary: Vannes let Talik go, set her free.(10-Year Anniversary Captive Prince Month, Day 25, Prompt: Equal)





	A Sack Of Pearls

**Author's Note:**

> This is my other favorite from the month.
> 
> Not first language. No beta. You can figure the rest.

It happened before the official liberation of slaves and brought down of the pet system. It showed how Vannes was more than a mistress. A friend, almost.

Vannes was sitting in her enormousness chair away from the table, regarding it with something between disinterested and anxiety. She was drinking from a golden cup, something light rose. Her favorite wine.

Talik was startled as she stepped inside the room. Vannes was not a woman of quiet debates of the mind. She did not retreat when she was weighting something’s pros and cons. She went out, she talked and listened, she looked at people to understand what she needed to.

"Are you alright?" Talik felt the uneasiness of the air. Vannes looked up, her eyes dark. Not just the colors in the faint light of the dying fire but also the heaviness in it. It was the look she gave to those who thought less of her when she just proved them wrong. The look she gave the last time she gazed at the Regent. The look she gave traitors before she had her guards keep them down as she slowly pushed a knife into their hearts. The look of a ruler, a leader, who was keen on keeping what she owned, from her jewelleries to her system of values.

She tilted her head towards the table. Talik was a strong woman but needed a lot of power to turn away from her gaze. It seemed Vannes wanted her to fight the urge to just drop to her knees.

The table was clean except for a folded paper and a stuffed white-linen sack. Talik found it dramatic, somehow. It broke the moment of intense eyeing of each other.

"It's yours." Her voice was distant and alcohol filled. It was not the first time she got gifts, but they were usually useful, knives, books, instruments, or a designer piece of something. Vannes liked her in heavy necklaces.

Talik touched the sack and her fingers traced pearls. She heard their jarring movement and clicking on each other. She knew it was black pearls, Vannes like those black ones. They were the size of a cherry, the color of the ocean at the night, shining of the surface of the moon and the worth of a fortune. Each one of them. The sack probably contained three or four dozens of them. Maybe more.

The paper was their contract. Talik wanted freedom. She didn't realize for a long time, but for month now she knew she wanted that. And Vannes would gave her that. It was painfully clear now. That's what Talik wanted. To get free, to try the life everyone else had the right to. To be hurt, to be sad, not to be forced to act. To love, to act angry, to make a change.

She turned to Vannes. Her face was a mask and Talik knew, knew deep in her heart, that she was doing it for her. If Talik felt like she owned Vannes nothing, not money and also not love it would be easier for her.

"I suggest you burn it," Talik's copy would not need destruction, it didn't matter. It wasn't used. Vannes never made her do such things. Vannes... At first probably not, but over the years Talik knew she felt the same way. When they were over the slave and master kind of relationship, when Vannes was talking to her and not just a body in the dead of the night, when Vannes nuzzled her neck, when she treated her as an adviser. It was the same feeling that was beating in Talik's heart. And this was the final step. Vanned gave her full freedom.

"There's a horse waiting for you outside." Talik felt a different feeling climbing up her ribs. "That," she indicated the sack, "is for all the things I cannot pay you back, but still try." Talik didn't remember breathing was this hard when you were breaking. "You should go."

He grabbed the sack and the paper. If she didn't move now she would never do it and she needed it. It was too quick, she almost dropped the pearls. She could not turn back. She would be incapable of leaving if she saw that Vannes fake the indifference. It didn't matter. She closed her eyes and left the room.

* * *

"Could you tie my dress, please?" Vannes looked over her shoulder to Kashel. She nodded and climbed out of fortress of pillows that they built unintentionally over the night.

"You look good with this new fashion," she complimented. Vannes, as the Kashel fixed the back of her dress by knotting the ties at her neck, leaned into the other woman. Over the month they knew each other they became friends, close friends. Kashel was a woman of a spectacular view on everything and she was not afraid to share it with the world.

As Vannes was the Ambassador to Vask they spent a lot of time together, she became her most trusted ally, which later turned into friendship with the addition of fucking. Kashel was just as amazing in bed as with words when it came to make someone blush. She was the ideal best friend for Vannes.

That's why Vannes invited her to Arles along with the most important Vaskians to the wedding of the kings. It's been a solid four years since they took their throne back and now it was the time for partying. And it was definitely more fun with her bestie.

"Care to join me for breakfast?" she asked, putting on her jewellery. Kashel smiled wide and dived back into the bed. Vannes smirked.

"If I make you hate tents your girlfriends won't let you come next time."

"I like tents," she said, proving a point by winking, which made it worse. She had to dig herself out of the duvet and looked like a teenage girl more than a young woman. "But beds are fun. We could make improvement on this front. I'll start the experiments," she pulled the covers over herself.

"Have a nice morning and noon," left Vannes her own room. She was invited to the diverse breakfast, where the nobility of every country in neighbourhood had their nephews and nieces put there for them to learn something. And have fun. Vannes supported this mentality.

It was indeed amusing. Laurent was - as the country had to learn and accept - witty beyond measure and he did it in a charming way that made Torveld melt for example. Damen was not fond of that, even though it was clear the Patran was over Laurent.

Damen was otherwise occupied with the Vaskian girls. They found it extremely entertaining that Damen still had problems with their language. At that moment they were teaching tongue-twisters to those who listened to them.

"May I have a word with you?" Vannes never in her life turned so vehemently, which meant something as this was how she was approached several times by the Regent of Vere, two times aggressive men and once by a horse with its tongue out.

She would never mistake the rich alt of her. She did not. Talik was there in somewhat similar clothing, something between a chiton and a Veretian laced monstrosity. She was beautiful, no surprise, hair cut short, curls still hanging in her face, amber eyes smiling, lips turning upwards, face, in general, freckled.

"You are still tall," she said because there were no other thing to say. Talik huffed a breath.

"Thank you, you are pretty too." She was carefree and confident. It was eye-wateringly mesmerizing. "I brought you a gift." Straightforwardness not fading then. Vannes blushed.

Talik held out a small sack. It was probably not the same, Vannes told herself, even though it could've been. It was worn and the same color and fashion. She tried to control the rose of her cheeks. In the sack, which was a clear sign a creativity and sentimentalism was a pair of earring. Small stones at the end of silver hangings. Stones of tiny dark pearls, which carried the darkness of a dead forest, the shining of the stars, the beauty of honesty.

Vannes knew when she looked back to Talik that she looked like a young girl courted for the first time. Stupid and laughable and she couldn't care less. Talik took the earring out of her hand and without question reached for her ears.

"So," Talik started casually, "is your hand taken?" She dropped the previous earring into Vannes's waiting hands. Vannes was pushed back to reality. She snorted.

"Of course, it is," she said, mean smirk forming. "The King doesn't fail to give us enough work to only be able to fall in love with business." Talik laughed softly, as she put the second earring in too. It did not match her outfit. She couldn't have cared less.

"And your heart?" asked Talik softly.

Vannes smiled. "You know it is."

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [tumblr](http://answermywearyquery.tumblr.com/).)


End file.
